Experience all the feels in this unforgettable, second chance, standalone romance from #1 New York Times bestseller Lauren Blakely!I didn’t break her heart, and she didn’t break mine — we broke each other’s.I never stopped loving her, but time and distance played its cruel role in ripping us apart three years ago when she moved halfway around the world. Now after all those endless miles away, … those endless miles away, she’s returned . . . but I’m not the guy I was before.
Beautiful, kind, and loving, she’s the same — my hope. The only one who can make a day better, who can make me feel again with one kiss, one touch, one night.
There’s so much I have to put back in place now that I’m alone and on my own. Things I never wanted at the age of twenty-five. When I receive an unexpected letter that might hold the clues to everything I desperately need to understand about my family, I’m sure I have to follow it. But that means leaving her once more.
She says she’ll come with me, and having her by my side will unbreak my heart . . . or destroy it.
That’s the chance I have to take.
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I’ve made no secret of my love for Lauren Blakely’s contemporary romances and romantic comedies. They’re my drug of choice, my happy place, and the titles at the top of my TBR list. I wouldn’t say that I’ve pigeon-holed her, but those types of stories are what I’ve come to expect and look forward to from this author. So, when I read the blurb for Unbreak My Heart, I was very intrigued because it sounded so completely different than what I was used to from her. What I would soon learn, though, was that I was utterly unprepared for the torrent of feelings this novel would evoke in me and how greatly this story would affect me.
Lauren Blakely is renowned for her sexy, smart, witty heroes, and Andrew is definitely all of those things, but most prominently, he is a devastated, grief-stricken man in tremendous pain. She vividly captured the stark reality of Andrew’s anguish and sorrow with heart-piercing accuracy. It practically radiated off the page, billowing off my Kindle like steam from a hot cup of coffee. He was firmly stuck in the in-between, and he was so consumed by pain and grief that he just couldn’t see his way through it to the other side. Blakely painstakingly takes readers along on Andrew’s journey to the other side of grief. Her writing here was exceptional as she poignantly told his story in a creative and calculated way, allowing this character to mourn and grieve while moving him past it through what was essentially a hefty dose of tough love, bereavement style, meted out in the form of emotional discoveries, confrontations, realizations and resolutions. No doubt about it, Andrew’s story was definitely a power punch to the feels, and it was also so effectively portrayed that the reader can’t help but be moved by it.
Unbreak My Heart is more than a rollercoaster of tumultuous emotion, though. A two-pronged plot unfolds where Andrew’s grieving process collides with his much desired second-chance with Holland. The heaviness in the first arc of plot is brilliantly balanced by the gorgeous love story between Holland and Andrew in the second plot arc. Two lovers, clearly meant to be, victims of a wrong time, wrong place scenario, are offered a second chance at what seemingly is, once again, the wrong time. Their chemistry sizzled and the pull toward each other was practically inescapable. I was easily caught up in the aching and longing they felt for each other, but I admired Holland’s strength and foresight here. She was generous, thoughtful, selfless and a heroine wise well beyond her years. I wanted her happiness as much as I wanted Andrew’s. Romance is where Blakely always shines, and she eased the heartache doled out to readers through Andrew’s grief with a captivating, passionate love story that was brimming with hope and possibilities.
Unbreak My Heart was a breathtakingly epic story about love, loss and healing that rocked me to my core. Blakely’s words and writing affected me profoundly, and I finished this incredible novel with a new respect for an author I already revered. A heart-wrenchingly real, raw and, at times, difficult to bear tale, Blakely ultimately gave her readers a gloriously grand, sweeping love story that will stay with them long after they finish reading it. Unbreak My Heart by Lauren Blakely is one of the great love stories within the romantic fiction genre, and stories like this are precisely why I read romance. A top favorite for the year and a story I’d rate higher if I could, Lauren Blakely’s Unbreak My Heart gets five smooches from me.
~Danielle, Red Cheeks Reads
What a heartbreaking but yet amazing read!
Unbreak My Heart is not the usual rom com read from Lauren Blakey, it’s so much more! The heartbreak and all around emotional ride will have you glued to the pages.
Andrew is grieving and struggling to find his way in life. As I read this I swear I could feel every ache and struggle he felt and I wanted nothing more then just to hug Andrew and try to take away his pain.
Holland is Andrew’s best friend and also the one that got away. She’s been gone for 3 years and she’s back, maybe temporarily.
Loved Holland, her strength, thoughtfulness and most of her knowledge of knowing when to take a step back and give Andrew the push he needs.
I know I haven’t given a lot of description on the story and characters, I want you to experience the story on your own.
I usually love Lauren Blakely books for the witty banter, the romance and the laughter. She has know given me so many more reasons to love her stories.
Read this book! The emotional ride between these two will have you crying, smiling and falling in love.
4.9 Stars
This is not your typical Lauren Blakely romantic comedy. Not at all.
It’s a little bit second-chance love story. A lot trying to find your way back to life and happiness after the death of loved ones. A bit mystery-investigative-travel-romance. It’s a lot of different things in a little book. And I loved it!
I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading. Of course I was expecting one of those amazing Blakely rom-coms. But I got something so very different. I immediately fell in love with Andrew. The poor guy. (view spoiler) He can’t yet deal with life. Or love. But he still loves the girl he spent this amazing summer with three years ago. But Holland left for nursing school and they split up. But now she’s back. And all those feelings are still there – but they can’t really be felt properly through all the grief.
Well, they can, but Holland doesn’t want to be a crutch for him. She wants to be loved for who she is, and not because she’s helping him get over his grief.
Time to put on his big boy boxers and start living again …
And also time to find out what his brother was doing in Tokyo before he died!!!
Off to Japan we go ….
I really loved reading this book. Even though I kinda had the feeling that half of the story at the beginning was missing. As if some editor had edited out the beginning and some words in the middle and everywhere else! LOL. It just felt a bit short. A bit too poetically written sometimes. Not really whole sentences. Just facts listed. Not bluntly or wrong or untalently written, just so different than other Lauren books. I don’t really know what I mean – I loved it – but I also missed some little things. I wanted it to be 100 pages longer or bigger. I wanted even more of an epilogue!
But still …. amazingly emotional love & grief story with some very sad and moving but also some very adorable and funny and beautiful and touristy moments.
I adored all the Ian moments. He just broke my heart. Knowing he could’ve had this amazing future. Ugh. So horribly sad.
I would definitely love to see this on Netflix or Passionflix!
UNBREAK MY HEART was such a beautiful and heartbreaking love story. A story about the love between brothers and of course between lovers … and how to fight for your happily ever after through very bad times! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Andrew – this one is MINE!
Oh, a tiny little thing. I don’t love the cover for the story. I mean – I LOOOOVE the cover. Mario is so very HOT! BUT, the story needs something else. The look in his eyes is great. But he needs a shirt, maybe a dog and maybe looking out to the ocean or a cherry blossom tree – no idea – but something that fits the story better!
ARC received for an honest review
I adore Lauren Blakely and all her books, so it was not a no brainer to read Unbreak My Heart.
Be warned though – this is not your typical Lauren Blakely, light and whimsical story.
Yes, it is a love story. Yes, it is a second chance romance. However it is so, so much more than that. In fact, I felt that the love story played second fiddle to the story of Andrew.
I didn’t read the blurb before diving in to Unbreak My Heart, and I am glad I didn’t. Andrew and Holland’s story is dealing with more than one kind of heartbreak.
Andrew’s loss has his floundering, and he starts off on a voyage of discovery – discovering things about his family, finding his was back to himself, and to the one that got away.
I wasn’t expecting such an emotional story when I picked this up. I read many scenes through misty eyes and Ms Blakely reached into my chest and squeezed my heart.
Sweet, tender, emotional and hopeful, Unbreak My Heart broke my heart, but put it back together again too.
Completely different, but I completely loved it.
I can’t wait to see what Ms Blakely brings us next.
Lauren Blakely needs to unbreak my heart!
God, this was a beautiful story! Grief is hard. And we can’t heal without help. And this story depict it beautifully. The story had laughs and it had tears. I’m so glad that I listened to it. Joe Arden had me in tears. My glasses actually fogged up. This is one of his most beautiful narrations. And this story wouldn’t have been completed without Erin Mallon’s narration. Joe and Erin compliment each other perfectly.
Audiobook Review
5+ stars!
I first read this book 3 years ago and in listening to the audiobook the second time around I fell even more in love with this story and I did not think that was possible as I already loved it SO much! Unbreak my Heart is Lauren Blakely’s most emotional, heartfelt writing. Although it is different than her usual flirty, funny, sexy style it still stands out as one of my most favourite books.
Andrew is grieving the loss of his brother, Ian who he recently lost his battle to cancer. He has spent the last several months numb from his grief and is looking for anything to grasp onto and get him out of his state of grief.
Holland and Andrew have known each other since they were kids. They were in love but ended up separating due to time and distance forcing them apart.
Holland is a sweetheart. She has a huge heart and loves Andrew dearly. She was smart in knowing exactly how much of her she could give to him along his journey of grief and healing.
The sweet, tender emotional moments shared between Andrew and Holland were so poignant and beautiful. As they reconnect and discover each other again I was touched deeply.
I love the messages portrayed in this story. Not only was this a love story between Andrew and Holland but it also portrays messages of loving your family and yourself before being able to love another. This story is so much more than a love story though. The journey Andrew faces after the loss of his brother was heartbreaking at times but necessary to healing his heart.
As an avid audiobook listener and huge fan of Joe Arden’s I’ve listened to a lot of his stories and THIS performance is one of his most powerful, impactful performances. I could feel and hear the emotion in his voice. So real and raw. The cracks of emotion in his voice tore at my heart. SO BEAUTIFUL!
Erin Mallon narrating Holland’s chapters was just as beautiful and together these two are magic in their story telling.
This story broke my heart so many times, but in each one Lauren’s beautiful writing put it back together. Drew’s journey of self-discovery and healing is one everybody who’s lost loved ones will relate and hopefully learn to better cope.
I love Andrew and Holland second chance romance. A sweet emotional story about loss and a jorney about healing, a tearjerker.
Loved the angst, the perspective and the secrets the protagonist had to uncover. It kept me hooked from page one!
Tragedy strikes again for Andrew when his brother passes away. He must learn to find happiness and closure and not through Holland is one and only love. This story is a bit dark but in the end, healing happens and love wins.
Loved the twists and surprises.
I cried, it was a book that brought me piece.
This was a very sad book in so many ways, mostly Holland. She did not want to be a crutch for Andrew to use during his grief of losing his brother. He was so close to his brother and it was so hard to watch Ian die. One needs to be there for others. And she was not compromising at all on how they could make their relationship work. Selfish does not even come close to describing her. Andrew had to get over his loss without her before she would take him back. Not my idea of a healthy relationship. His cousin and his friend were much more supportive and caring.
Not al it of romance. More dealing with death, forgiveness and memories.
I loved Unbreak My Heart, it was very emotional but honest and true and heart-wrenching Beautifully written.
Unbreak My Heart by Lauren Blakely is a standalone contemporary romance based on second chances and overcoming loss. While the book was well-written and well-paced I found I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I think Andrew’s pain might have been too much and Holland’s easygoing spirit too easygoing. The story was solid, the descriptions of Tokyo and the different areas the characters visited was well done and the ending was happy and hard earned. This just wasn’t one for me to gush over – that being said I still enjoyed it and Lauren Blakely remains a must-read author for me. Enjoy!
Slow, story just okay. Location of story is odd. Had trouble buying into the two main characters and the choices they made. Would not want anyone else to suffer through this. Find it easily forgettable. Read something else.
A totally different style of book from Lauren Blakely, but I loved the story.
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~~ 5 TRANSCENDENT STARS!~~
UNBREAK MY HEART by the luminous Lauren Blakely was a brilliantly penned, TOUR DE FORCE novel, and in my opinion, her most powerful book to date!
I honestly can’t remember the last book that I read that touched me so profoundly! This book cracked my heart wide open, filled it to overflowing and ultimately had it SOARING WITH JOY!
This is the EXTRAORDINARY, INSPIRING, GUTWRENCHINGLY BEAUTIFUL story of one young man’s journey through grief and soul-deep healing after the tragic, untimely death of his beloved brother who lost his valiant battle against cancer.
When he receives a mysterious letter that propels this angry, disillusioned and bereft young law graduate to travel to Japan, where Ian once lived, he embarks on a soul-altering quest to uncover clues about the brother he thought he knew so intuitively. And along the way, he unearths so much more about himself and his family than he ever imagined…including the true meaning of life and death, of forging and fostering human connections, of finding unexpected solace and spiritual wellness in the most unexpected places, and of the miraculous, abiding power of ETERNAL love!
Andrew’s path to healing and wholeness was FAR FROM EASY but with the love and support of his family and friends—and his true love, Holland—he finds the courage to face his darkest demons and fight his way back to a place of hope and fulfillment and immeasurable joy again.
Ultimately, UNBREAK MY HEART is so much MORE than a passionate love story, which in itself was breathtaking. As with all her books, it’s chock full of LB’s trademark sparkling banter, captivating romance, sizzling sensual tension, warmth and wit. But at its CORE this is a story of hope amid unspeakable loss, of self-discovery, of fulfilling your most fervent dreams…and of finding meaning and beauty and joy in everyday life!
And that epilogue? Omg…it was EVERYTHING! Ugly, beautiful, cathartic tears!!!
BOTTOM LINE:
I truly cannot recommend UNBREAK MY HEART strongly enough. This powerfully moving, soul rejuvenating novel struck a deep, visceral chord in me and is just brimming with so many bittersweet, heart-shattering, achingly emotional and awe-inspiring feels that I felt it down to my MORROW. It is by far one of my TOP PICKS of the year and will live in my heart forever!
Love Lauren Blakely! Every book is a winner.